A Second Glance Another Chance
by Hikari Shadokijo
Summary: SHOUNEN AI WARNING They were always so close, but eventually life forced them apart, now over a decade later they meet again - the Golden Pair. How easy will it be to rediscover what made them so special to each other? SHOUNEN AI WARNING


Title: A Second Glance; Another Chance  
  
Part: One  
  
Author: Hikari Shadokijo  
  
Pairing: OishixKikumaru  
  
Spoilers: None.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: Assuming junior high school was the end of everything, the seigaku regulars went about their own lives, growing apart. For the first time in nearly a decade, a legendary pair encouter each other again. But, has time really taken its toll on their friendship?  
  
Disclaimer: All characters and situations are fictional. Any similarities to real life are purely coincidental. Do not sue. Oh yeah, and the characters aren't mine either, but as I am not selling any of my works for profit... I'm thinking it's a good thing.  
  
Warning: FIRST PoT Fanfic.  
  
Comments: I'm sure you read that other fic I posted up a little while ago... what was it? "Knowing Too Much". Like i had previously mentioned... well, this was the fic I was writing when I got that spark of inspiration. To be honest, when this originally was written, the idea was for a really depressing story. Unfortunately, I tend to just fill it out with useless dialouge(you'll see... sweatdrop) but hopefully it'll be entertaining enough. This is officially my FIRST Tenipuri fanfic. It's just the second to be publically viewed/finished. A thing to consider is that I'm actually an extremely SLOW writer... so this took a long time. And it's not even that goo-- gets slapped by her muse Okay okay, no more babbling. Read read! (no no, don't don't. I mean... only read if you want to... sweatdrop)  
  
A Second Glance; Another Chance  
  
The sky above was a perfect shade of blue, not a single cloud marred the beauty mother nature bestwoed upon that day. However, in return, the sun above blazed hot and bright above the land, raising the temperature to uncomfortable levels. A young man, sitting beneath the sky, loosened the tie around his neck in an attempt to cool off. The jacket of his suit lay beside him on the bench and the sleeves of his white buisness shirt were rolled up past his elbows. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, and pushed his fingers through his dark, reddish hair.  
  
"Hey, Kikumaru-kun[0].Thought I'd find you here."  
  
The young salaryman squinted, trying to see through the glare of the sun, at the thin, curvy figure of the woman hovering near his bench. "You disappeared after lunch. The boys told me I'd find you here."  
  
The young man closed his eyes and draped a hand over his forehead. "It's too hot to stay in the office," he explained.  
  
She sat down next to him, crossing her ankles gently. Her hair fell over her eyes as she looked down at the ground, fumbling with her hands. She pushed a few strands of her soft, black hair over one ear. "Want to get a drink with me later? A cocktail or something."  
  
He glanced at her, a slight smile on his lips. "Later?" he inquired, one eyebrow rising just slightly.  
  
"I still have a project to finish." She offered him a shy laugh and looked down at the folded hands in her lap. Her fingers wriggled impatiently. "You're on the same team as me. Shouldn't you be finishing your work too?" The young woman looked up at him with a smile on her perfect lips.  
  
Kikumaru lowered his head and sighed in an act of defeat. "It's still too hot, Chiyose-chan."[1] He made sure to add that one comment to make her feel guilty. He casually tightened the tie around his neck and rebuttoned his long, white sleeves. The young woman picked up his jacket and folded it over her arm, as if to apologize for reminding him about his job. After a moment, standing under the bright sun, she raised herself on her toes slightly and whispered in his ear, "I'll make it up to you later. Promise."  
  
"Nya?[2]"   
  
She covered her mouth to hide the quiet laugh that was evoked from his wide-eyed, innocent response.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Nothing, nothing."  
  
With the setting sun, the temperature of the land had cooled off enough to allow two people to stand close to each other. Kikumaru glanced at the young woman walking right up against his body and smiled. Chiyose smiled happily and chirped, "Thanks for helping me finish my project."  
  
He scratched his head sheepishly for a moment, his cheeks blushing a shade of pink. "It was easy!" He gave her a thumbs up and grinned from ear to ear. "So," he initiated, "where'd you want to go?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking about a drink earlier, but the night just seems really beautiful... and I wouldn't mind spending alot of time with you-- afterall! Tomorrow's saturday!" Chiyose tugged on his arm. "We get the day off because we're salarymen," she added with a smile. "If we wanted, we could spent the entire night out! I say... dinner first... and then drinks... and then..." She trailed off and shook her head.  
  
Kikumaru looked down at her, strands of his reddish hair falling infront of his dark, violet eyes. "Sure, that sounds nice. I haven't gone out in a while." He stretched his arms over his head and let out a loud cry: "Kachou's[3] sure been evil about all the work he's giving us! I'm so glad we're almost done with this project!" He leaned to the left, stretching out his sides, and then leaned towards the right.   
  
Chiyose laughed and stepped back slightly to give him room. "Actually," she offered, "this is a great resturant and bar that I went to once with my girlfriends. Do you--"  
  
"Hey, you don't mind if we split the bill, do you? I don't have alot of cash on me."  
  
She paused quickly, a little bit stunned by the question,"Uh... it's fine. It's not like this is a date or anything..."  
  
"Yeah, but I was trying to be a gentleman." He laughed and scratched his head.  
  
A beautiful young woman in a kimono brought them to a semi-private table and served the tea. "Someone will be along shortly to take your orders," she said with a deep bow before rushing to the entrance where a large, loud party had just arrived.  
  
Chiyose sat back on her legs and folded her hands in her lap. "I forgot this place was a little traditional."  
  
"I don't have to sit seiza[4], do I?" Kikumaru asked, looking at the table with an expression of fear on his face.  
  
The young woman shook her head with a laugh. "It's alright," she reassured him, "it's a casual setting with a traditional feel. Sit however you like." He let out a sigh of relief and sat down crosslegged at the table. Chiyose smiled and leaned over the table towards him. "It's nice and cool here, right?" she asked, reaching out to touch his hand.  
  
"Yeah, I'm glad the sun's finally set."  
  
"Uh... Ki--kikumaru-kun?"  
  
"Nya?"  
  
"I want to tell you--"  
  
A loud whoop rose from a boisterous party nearby their table. Chiyose stopped short and coughed, clearing her voice. "They're so loud," she whined, covering her ears with her hands. A waitress apologized as she entered their semi-private area with two bottles of beer and a plate of korokke[5]. "Please forgive them, we'll try to make sure they keep their volume down a bit, but there are alot of them. Please accept these for your trouble."  
  
Kikumaru rose up slightly. "It's okay. Thank you."  
  
Next to their area, they could hear the party cheer and drink. Every now and then someone would speak very loudly over the group. Kikumaru brought the bottle to his lips and took a drink. Chiyose had an expression on her face that seemed as if she were trying very hard to make the best of the situtation. "Chiyose-chan..."  
  
"I didn't know there were going to be so many people tonight. I'm sorry."  
  
"It's not your fault... at least the food's good!" He raised the bottle of beer.  
  
Chiyose looked up with a smile on her lips. "At least..." Strands of her soft, black hair fell over her eyes, but she didn't bother pushing them away.  
  
He sighed and rose to his feet. "Hold on a second."  
  
"Wait, you're--"  
  
"I'm just going to ask them to be a little quiet." Kikumaru gave her a victory sign and trekked out towards the boisterous party, ready to stand up and get them to quiet down.  
  
It was a large group of young men, all in their late twenties to thirties. All of them were dressed professionally with ties and jackets and some were even wearing a doctors' lab coats. He lingered quietly near the tables, hesitating slightly while they continued talking. "Dude, you NEED a girlfriend. I can't believe you haven't been in a relationship for five years. Alright-- after this, we're gonna get you some fine ass." The party cheered loudly and excitedly.  
  
Kikumaru cleared his voice. "Ex--excuse me. Excuse me! Ex--" He coughed loudly and demanded at the top of his voice, "CAN YOU BE QUIET!?"  
  
The group paused admist their discussion. It was quiet for about half a moment before the sounds started up again. He blinked and sighed. Of course they weren't going to listen to someone like him. They were real professionals. Someone, who's face had been turned towards the table the entire time, rose up from the floor and walked slowly towards him.   
  
"Forgive them," he said, pulling at the stethascope around his neck, "they're a little drunk..." He glanced back at his party and shook his head. The expression on his face bore a familiar kindness.  
  
Kikumaru recoiled slightly in surprise. "Uh... I'm just here with a friend and you're a little, you're making conversation difficult for us."  
  
The doctor nodded, obviously sympathetic. He turned towards the table and tapped a few of them on the shoulder, obviously telling them to be quiet. One of them waved his bottle of beer and said, "Ya know, Oishi-sensei[6], you outta have more fun. After this, we're getting you a girlfriend."  
  
"Sure, whatever. Just, be more polite. All of you."  
  
"HAI![7]" the group exclaimed, raising their bottles of beer and lowering the volume of their speech.  
  
Kikumaru froze and then cleaned out his ears, wondering if he heard right. He shook his head, convincing himself it was only a coincidence. The doctor walked back towards him and bowed. "They should be more quiet now," he told him, a small smile on his lips.  
  
"Uh... what's your name, if you don't mind my asking?"  
  
Kikumaru didn't even know what he had asked until the doctor gave him a kind smile. "Oishi Syuichirou," he replied, simply, and then patted his pocket before withdrawing a plain, white buisness card. "Just in case."  
  
Kikumaru glanced down at the buisness card, his hands shaking slightly. The words on the card were illegible to his slightly nervous system. " He gave the doctor a quick wave before hurrying to return to his table. He tucked the buisness card away in his pocket and stuck his head around the corner. "I got them to quiet down-- uh--" He looked around. Chiyose was nowhere to be seen. For a moment he thought it was a trick of the mind, until he finally focused on the only thing left: a note, hastily scribbled in her handwriting.  
  
"I'm sorry. I had to go. There was an emergency with my brother. Please forgive me. I wish I could have finished the evening with you. Chiyose."  
  
He sighed and sank to the floor, staring at the abandoned table. A waitress peeked in on him and bowed. "Your girlfriend paid for half, she said you two agreed to split the bill."  
  
He shook his head, awakening from this slight daze of the evening, and laughed. "We did agree, didn't we? Okay. Sure." Kikumaru dug around in his wallet and pulled out a small wad of bills, counting out the right amount of cash to pay the rest of the check.  
  
Somehow, in the darkness, Kikumaru had found the same bench he had sat on earlier that day. He loosened the tie around his neck and stared up at the starry sky and bright, cresent moon. Although he had been disappointed about Chiyose leaving so suddenly, the thing that shook him up most of all, was the doctor he met at the resturant. He reached for the buisness card and looked at it, reading the words with the assist of a nearby streetlamp.   
  
"Oishi Syuichirou," he read with a frown.  
  
He chewed his lip hesitantly. If it was the same Oishi, then they didn't recognize each other, and that feeling upset him. However, he couldn't ignore the fact that there were similarities, now that he really thought back about it. They spoke with the same calm, collected, mature voice, but didn't all doctors speak like that? He kept frowning.  
  
"Ah!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air. "I give up, nya!" He was quiet for a moment before covering his face with hs hands and mumbling, "They did kind of look alike though..."  
  
The next day at the office, Kikumaru found Chiyose sitting quietly at her desk and computer, working very slowly. He approached her and exclaimed, "Yahhoi[8]! Surprise!" The previous day off from work, really gave him the chance to reclaim his excited, happy self.  
  
"Ah! K-kikumaru-kun!" she exclaimed, practically jumping in her seat. She gave him a smile before turning his gaze towards her lap and speaking in a mournful tone, "I'm sorry about the other night... Please forgive me... my brother got into an accident. He's in the hospital now..." She sighed and folded her hands. "He got hit by an out of control car. Ruined his hips... or something..."  
  
He sat on the edge of her desk in disbelief. "No way... is he okay?"  
  
"The hospital's taking good care of him, and he has a great pediatrician.  
  
Kikumaru noticed a few baskets of flowers and chocolates pushed aside on her desk. "Hm, I guess people already heard, huh?"  
  
"Yeah. They're really nice to be concerned about him." She smiled slightly. Everyone in the office knew Chiyose's situtation. They knew the mother left them, and their father was in America trying to make something of himself. All that was left was her and her brother - who was about ten years younger than herself. She played with a wilted flower. "But he's fine. He just won't be able to walk for a while, but I'll also have to stay in the hospital with him until he gets discharged."  
  
"Oh, so that'll explain why Kachou came to the others and me with a new project instead of you."  
  
"Another one!?"  
  
Sometime that evening, after working a good few hours overtime, Kikumaru headed towards the hospital to offer his best regards to Chiyose's younger brother. He approached the desk and rapped on the surface with his knuckles.. The young man behind the desk looked up at him and blinked. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Where can I find Yaegaki Rei?"  
  
The young man yawned and casually entered the name into the computer. He automatically asked, "Relation?"  
  
"Family friend."  
  
"Name?"  
  
"Kikumaru Eiji."  
  
"Floor 3, room 345."  
  
"Thanks." Kikumaru bowed and bid the young man a good day before moving towards the closest elevator. Just as he had pressed the "number 3" button, he heard someone cry, "Hold the door! Please! Hold the door!" He panicked for a moment before sticking his foot out inbetween the closing doors, stopping them short. A young boy slid into the elevator, nearly getting his school satchel caught in between the doors. "Augh!' Kikumaru exclaimed, pulling his foot back before it got crushed, "they have to get those sensors fixed."  
  
The student was bent over, breathing heavily as if he had just run about three miles. "Thi--thi-- third-- third floor, floor, please," he asked between heavy gasps.  
  
Kikumaru eyed the bent form of the student carefully, and watched as he straightened up and readjusted his shirt. "Thanks for holding the door opening."  
  
"No problem." Kikumaru observed the tired looking boy for a moment. "Looks like you're in a hurry."  
  
"Yeah..." The young boy had an expression of worry and concern etched onto his young features. His brow was furrowed together as he fumbled with his hands. He started bouncing on his heels in impatience, growing more and more irritated as the elevator moved slowly to the second floor. The doors opened to no one. The student seemed to turn white. ".... no way..."  
  
"Hey, kid, calm down."  
  
"Sorry, I'm just concerned about someone..."  
  
The elevator finally opened to the third floor. The boy started out in a run before stopping and obviously taking a moment to gather himself. Kikumaru cupped his hands around his mouth and asked, "What room are you looking for?"  
  
"345."  
  
"Oh, kid, you're going in the wrong direction."  
  
"What? Oh! Thanks..." The young student looked over at the older salaryman, who pointed in the opposite direction and started off in the same way. The student beat him to the door and opened it up slowly - hesitantly. There was a pregnant pause, as the boy seemed to have froze in place before finally crying out, in a rejoiceful voice, "Rei...? Rei! You're alive!" The young student finally swung the door open and ran towards the hospital bed, wrapping his arms around the neck of the bedridden boy.  
  
Kikumaru entered after him, looking around and spying Chiyose watching them with a smile. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Who's the kid?"  
  
"Him?" She laughed and made a nostalgic noise. "That's Ichiro. Rei's doubles partner."  
  
"I didn't know he played tennis."  
  
"He's been playing doubles since elementary school. Ichiro and him go way back..."  
  
Rei laughed as his best friend was looking him over and scolding the him sharply: "How could you! Didn't I tell you not to go that way. Always look both ways before crossing the street... and don't run so fast! I can't believe you. Look at you!"  
  
"I'm sorry Ichiro..." Rei's laughter was gone.  
  
"And now you've gone and hurt yourself..."  
  
"I don't think I can play tennis anymore."  
  
"I don't care about that!" Ichiro put his hands on Rei's shoulders and shook his head. "As long as you'll be fine, that's all I really care about." Their foreheads touched. "I'm always worried about you..."  
  
"Okay, hands off the paitent. Let's not get him too agitated." A tall, handsome doctor closed the door behind him. He smiled and walked towards the bed, carefully looking at Rei before going on and asking the standard sets of questions. Ichiro, being the concerned friend that he was, hovered around the bed. asking just as many questions - all directed towards the doctor.  
  
Kikumaru swallowed, recognizing the doctor as the one he met in the resturant. His eyes widened and he quickly turned towards the door, hoping he wasn't scene. "Looks like you guys are busy. Tell Rei-kun that I hope he gets better, okay?"  
  
"Oh! You're leaving...?"  
  
"Yeah." Kikumaru waved his hand, a little quickly, and he put his hand on the door. If he really was THAT Oishi, it was better to just avoid things.  
  
Chiyose pouted, but she didn't stop him. "Thanks for showing your concern, Kikumaru-kun."  
  
The doctor looked up from his papers quickly, catching a quick, brief glance of reddish hair before the hospital door slid shut. He blinked and quietly mouthed, "Kikumaru...kun...?"  
  
Kikumaru sighed and leaned against the wall, covering his face with his hands. There was an intense feeling of awkwardness overwhelming his heart, brought on entirely by the thought of facing someone who had once been so important to him... so long ago. He shook his head and slapped his cheeks. "That's enough thinking," he said, and started heading back towards the elevators.  
  
"Kikumaru!"  
  
He started walking faster.  
  
"Kikumaru! Kikumaru-kun!"  
  
He shook his head and started running towards the elevator.  
  
"Kiku--Kikuma-- EIJI!"  
  
He stopped and slowly glanced over his shoulder at the closing elevator doors. Oishi was running full speed towards him, and he prayed the doors would close on time. Kikumaru faced the back of the elevator and crossed his arms.  
  
"I won, Eiji."  
  
Kikumaru swallowed and slowly turned back around. An out of breath doctor was standing between the doors, holding them open with his hands. "...Oi--shi...?" he stuttered, stepping back into the corner of the elevator.  
  
Oishi slipped into the elevator, letting the doors finally slide shut. An uncomfortable silence passed between them before Kikumaru exclaimed, in a loud, obnoxious voice, "Oh! You're that doctor from the other evening! Thanks for keeping them quiet! You must have overheard my name in the hospital room, huh?"  
  
"Eiji..."  
  
"Hahahaha...! This is really embarrassing!"  
  
"I can't believe it's you."  
  
"Hahaha--eh...? Wha-what are you talking about...?"  
  
Oishi frowed and took a few steps towards him. "I'd like to have dinner with you."  
  
"NYA--!?" Kikumaru paled and threw his arms up in protest.  
  
Oishi let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "A hospital isn't an appropriate place to discuss things. I'm afraid we're going to have speak in a more private setting if we want to settle some things..."  
  
"....nya...."  
  
The elevator doors opened to the second floor and Oishi stepped out. "How about... that same resturant tonight at nine?" He checked his watch. "I have an appointment. I hope to see you there! It's been such a long time!"  
  
Kikumaru watched the doors close, as he sank to the floor of the elevator with a sigh and covered his head with his hands. His heart pounded against his ribcage in an overwhelming sense of nervousness and embarassment. As the elevator slowly sank down to the first floor, he gathered himself, standing back onto his feet and firmly deciding not to meet Oishi at the resturant. "It'll be easier that way," he told himself, nodding.  
  
Even with the promise he made, he found himself standing infront of the resturant at around nine. Kikumaru pulled at his hair, and cursed himself for walking subconciously. He twisted around infront of the door, looking around and arguing with himself. About fifteen minutes later, and after being on the recieving end of many confused looks, he finally entered the resturant. He swallowed. "I... I'm here to meet someone," he said to the waitress standing by the door.  
  
"Oh, is your party here already?"  
  
"I... I think so. I'm a little late. Uhm... is there an... Oishi Syuichirou here?"  
  
The waitress's eyes widened slightly. "Oh! You're the one he's waiting for. He's been here for close to half an hour already. Yes, he's requested a rather private area. Follow me."  
  
Kikumaru shook his head and held up his hands in protest. "J-just point me in the right direction, you don't have to guide me there." The waitress eyed him for a moment before gesturing to a slightly elevated area with a closed shoji screen. He bowed, gave her a sheepish smile and moved, very slowly, towards the door. He paused and lifted his hand.  
  
His fingers twitched. He put his hand back down, and then he rose it again. This indecision continued for a while, with him repeating the action of lifting his hand and putting it down. Up, down, up down. Finally he gave up, letting the hand fall to his side. He shoved his hands in his pockets and began to leave.  
  
"Ano[9], sir! Where are you going!?" The waitress called out to him, as he quickly left the resturant, having finally made up his mind. He didn't walk fast, instead he moved slowly, trying very hard not to think too hard about what he just did. As if to distract him, he half wondered how well Rei was doing in the hospital.  
  
"He looked really happy with Ichiro," he noted to himself, a little nostalgically. In Rei and Ichiro, he saw a similar light and life that he had once had with his own doubles partner in junior high. He sighed.  
  
"Eiji!"  
  
Kikumaru froze.  
  
"You never came."  
  
"S-s-so...?"  
  
Oishi took a step towards him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "You're avoiding me, aren't you?"  
  
Kikumaru pulled away quickly and turned around to face him, hands folded over his chest. "Oishi-sensei, ne[10]?"  
  
"Eiji..."  
  
"I'm sorry. I know, I know I'm avoiding you but... but... you're from a time in my life I've long forgotten! I don't even play tennis anymore. Seeing you again is like..." Kikumaru shook his head fiercely and sank to the ground, unable to explain the sudden urge to run away.  
  
Oishi knelt down next to him and sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this," Kikumaru added, cocking his head to the side and looking the doctor in the eyes, "but I think I should stay away from you."  
  
"What... why?"  
  
"Because... well, it's not important." Kikumaru stood up and dusted off his pants. "Take good care of Rei-kun, will you?"  
  
"No! Stop! Eiji--"  
  
Kikumaru shook his head fiercely. "I'm afraid I don't really know you."  
  
  
  
Oishi reached out and grabbed his wrist, holding it tightly in his slightly calloused hand. "Hi. My name's Oishi Syuichirou. We met in the resturant the other night, I don't believe I ever caught your name... sir?"  
  
"What are you...?" Kikumaru started to say, but in return Oishi gave him a broad, overly familiar grin. He shook his head and something that sounded like half a laugh and half a sob escaped his lips. "Oi-- Uhm... I'm Kikumaru Eiji. It's nice to meet you," he managed to say between those half and half sounds, that eventually turned to surpressed laughter. His eyebrows furrowed.  
  
"Kikumaru-san[11], how about dinner?" Oishi continued to smile, that overly familar grin.  
  
"No, stop! This isn't funny!" Kikumaru tried to protest, while trying to supress his own laughter, brought on by nervousness and embarrasment.  
  
"You're laughing though, aren't you?"  
  
He grew silent, still looking at Oishi's smiling face. It felt sort of backwards, compared to their younger days, for Oishi to be the one making jokes and trying to make him laugh. Kikumaru looked away. A feeling of discomfort and awkwardness overwhelmed his senses. The discomfort slowly began to subside, replacing itself with a feeling of remorse. He glanced up. Oishi hadn't moved, but the expression on his face had changed. It was the very expression he wore back in junior high school whenever he was worried or concerned about someone or something. Kikumaru felt something inside him tremble at the sight, but it wasn't a tremble of saddness, or fear. For the first time, in a long time, he actually felt an intense feeling of happiness to be this close to someone he knew so long ago. Before he knew it, he had started to cry.  
  
He awoke the next morning with a rather painful headache. He looked around in a daze; the rest of the previous night blurred in his memory. He remembered Oishi taking him into his arms, holding him close and allowing him to cry into his shoulder. He remembered being helped back to his small apartment, and clinging to his jacket, begging him not to leave. Whether Oishi stayed or not, was beyond him.  
  
Kikumaru took in a deep breath, trying to wake himself up. A savory scent filled his senses. He hurried to the kitchen, half hoping to find Oishi standing there waiting for him... but there was no one. There was, however, a bentou tray sitting - covered - on his counter. He approached it quietly, reading the rather long, neat note tapped to the plastic. Apparantly Oishi had stayed all night.  
  
"Do you live on sugar or something? Your cupboards are full of pocky and warm calpico soda! I had to go out and buy grocceries in order to make you breakfast. The only reason why you don't have cavities is because you're obsessed with brushing your teeth. I bought natto and rice. I couldn't believe you didn't even have rice. And kim chee. I don't care if you hate spicy foods. It's good for you. Eat."  
  
He stared at the note for a long time, even after finishing reading it. He blinked and checked back at his cupboards. "Well what do you know," he noted, "I really do only have pocky, but where's the warm calpico soda?" He whirled around and checked the fridge. He smiled. It was just like Oishi to put soda away, even if he discouraged it. Kikumaru reached in and found that he also had a few new bottles of cold green tea and laughed.  
  
Somehow, after polishing off all this "good for you" food, he really did feel good. Good enough to realize that the clock on his television clearly said, "12:42 pm". He was a good three hours late for work. "NO WAY!!" he cried, knocking his chair backwards as he practically shot up from the table. "I can't believe I'm late. What am I gonna do? Kachou's gonna have my head! Oh-- Chiyose-chan!!" Kikumaru tackled the phone and instantly called the one person he could trust.  
  
"Hai. Chiyose desu[12]."  
  
"CHIYOSE-CHAAAAAN!!!"  
  
"Eh!? What!? Kikumaru-kun!?"  
  
"... I'm late for work, nya."  
  
"That's obvious. What happened to you?"  
  
"I woke up at 12 with a headache. I must have been really sick last night." He was sincere. He wasn't sure exactly what happened at night, and he really did wake up with a headache.  
  
Chiyose sighed on the other end of the line. "You big dummy. I had to tell the boss that you were taking care of my little brother in the hospital. That was the only thing that convinced him to let you off easy. Geez... I swear, you need to take better care of yourself. All you ever eat at work is pocky."  
  
"... someone just said that to me..."  
  
"Oooh, I see. SICK, huh? Riiiight! Is that someone there making you breakfast!?"  
  
"What!? No no!"  
  
"Liar."  
  
"No, I'm serious! It was just a friend. He was scolding me for just eating pocky."  
  
"Oh... a HE?"  
  
"Quit it!"  
  
"Alright, fine, but Mitsuo-kun was nice enough to help finish up some of your work. You OWE us."  
  
Kikumaru was thoughtful for a moment before finally suggesting, "I can really go and keep Rei-kun company, if you want me too."  
  
"Would you really do that!?"  
  
"Yeah, anything for getting me off the hook like that."  
  
"You BETTER take care of him!"  
  
"Hai hai!"  
  
He liked Rei, liked him like a little brother. There was an endearing sort of quality the young boy always had. It was a kind of high energy that seemed never ending. He wanted to visit. Also, Kikumaru knew and understood that volunteering to visit Rei in the hospital would mean there was a possibility of seeing Oishi after the mess that happened the night before. He wanted to at least see him and thank him for the healthy breakfast. Still, it took a little bit of time and effort to finally make it to the hospital without turning back. He stopped a few meters away from 345, watching a doctor step out and close the door behind him. He was right. It was Oishi, looked like he was definately Rei's doctor.  
  
"Kikumaru-san, I wouldn't go there if I were you." Oishi said, casually, not even looking up from the chart he was holding in his hands.  
  
Kikumaru backed off a bit, surprised that he was caught so quickly. There was a slight pause before he finally managed to ask, "Why not?"  
  
"Sometimes people need time alone together."  
  
"Look, Oishi-sensei," they were apparantly still using formal name calling, "there's a time and place for every--"  
  
Oishi looked up from his chart, raising one eybrow. "Not us," he corrected, with a shake of his head, "Rei-san and Ichiro-san."  
  
There was a pause, and Kikumaru's expression was confused and innocent. Oishi shook his head and quietly gestured to the door, encouraging him to peek through the small window. The smaller redhead was cautious at first as he approached the door, and looked in to see what the doctor was talking about. All he saw was the bedridden Rei sitting and talking with a rather concerned Ichiro. Every now and then, Rei would bow his head and look sheepish, and then Ichiro would pat him on the head, as if to say, "It's okay." Kikumaru's gaze grew a little soft.  
  
"Kinda looks familar, right?"  
  
"Yeah, makes me think of this movie I saw on TV..."  
  
Oishi stared at him, for a while, an expression of disbelief on his face. Kikumaru turned at him with a cat-like smile on his lips, something that felt very natural and familiar. "I'm just teasing you," he said with that grin. Oishi blinked, as the smile turned to something softer and he quietly added, "they remind me of us... don't they?" He was sheepish.  
  
"YOU ASSHOLE!!! Don't you care about Rei-sempai[13] at all!?"  
  
"Be quiet, you're too loud."  
  
"You're an evil, insensitive jerk. Why'd you even come this far?"  
  
"You dragged me here!"  
  
Kikumaru and Oishi glanced towards the source of the loud arguing. Two junior high school students had emerged from the elevator, fighting with each other at full force. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife, and they looked just about ready to kill each other. Kikumaru wasn't sure he was glad for the interruption or not. They didn't look very pleasant, but it definately seemed like they knew Rei. He frowned.  
  
"You're going to give him your respects, whether you like it or not!"  
  
"Don't boss me around!" The more angry looking one of the two, grabbed the slightly less angry looking one from the collar of his uniform.  
  
Oishi rushed in between them. "Hey! Stop this! No fighting in a hospital! I know it's convienent, but don't do it!" he scolded firmly.  
  
The two junior high students glared at each other angerily, but stopped their aruging. Oishi sighed, watching as they kept their distance and gazes away from each other as they headed towards Rei's hospital room. "Ah?" called out the bedridden boy, "Is that Haruo and Teru? Fighting!? Hey! Teru, don't force Haruo to visit me! You know he's just a grumpy guy!"  
  
Kikumaru glanced at the one whose face was contorted into an expression of severe disinterest. There was something familiar about him, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. In fact, he silently admitted, there was something familiar about both of them. He watched Ichiro work some kind of upperclassman power over the two uncomfortable students until they both seemed calm enough to offer Rei their best regards. During the exchange, Oishi checked his watch a few times before finally saying, "Ah, Yaegaki-san, your guests can stay as long as you want, but a new doctor will be taking over now that my shift's done, alright?"  
  
"Sure! Oh, and hey, Oishi-sensei?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"It's okay to eat ice cream in this condition, right?"  
  
Kikumaru stifled a laugh.  
  
"Of course it's alright."  
  
"See? See? I told you!" Rei punched Ichiro in the shoulder, "I can SO totally have ice cream!"  
  
Haruo and Teru looked at each other and the expression on their faces were extremely awkward ones, as if they felt like they should leave but leaving would have been equally as awkward. Kikumaru was positive he had the very same - if not extremely similar - expression on his face. Oishi turned to leave and placed a hand on his shoulder, whispering quietly in his ear, "Take care."  
  
Kikumaru whirled around. "Ehh--!! Wait, wait!" he exclaimed, chasing after him.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"I don't want to be alone with them in there... it's weird. I'm too old to be hanging out with junior high kids!"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Kikumaru scratched his head sheepishly and looked at the floor. "It's embarassing."  
  
Oishi laughed and shook his head before managaing to take a moment to ask him out to dinner for a third time, as they stood there in the hospital hallway. There was a brief pause. Even though Kikumaru was begining to feel relaxed around him, there was a moment of nervousness and tightness in his chest. He wasn't sure exactly how to respond. Finally, he managed to say, "Dinner... huh? Uhm... okay!" He was surprised by the chirp in his voice. "I'll... uh--"  
  
"No. I'm not letting you get away. You'll never show up. You already have a bad track record." Oishi scolded, blocking the hallway so Kikumaru couldn't escape.  
  
"But!"  
  
"No buts. We'll go together."  
  
"Uh--eh!?"  
  
It seemed Oishi was serious. He made sure to keep Kikumaru in his field of vision the entire time, even while he was clocking out of work and checking his hours for the following week. He was polite enough to keep his distance though. It wasn't like they were holding hands or anything. Every now and then, as they walked through the crowded streets of Tokyo, Kikumaru would look back at Oishi and wonder if it was safe to run away, but then he felt a brief pang of guilt and just keep walking... even though he didn't quite know where they were going.   
  
Somehow, while they were walking, the distance between them grew less and less until they were walking side by side. Kikumaru looked down at his feet. He knew he was the one that walked slower. "So," he started to say.  
  
"It's a little french style place," Oishi replied, before he even had the opportunity to ask the question.  
  
Kikumaru was a surprised. "How did you...?"  
  
"I wouldn't expect you to know."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"But, I'm sure you'll like it, and the setting's very intimate."  
  
Kikumaru felt himself blush at the words. He shook his head, despite the strange looks he was getting for looking as embarassed as he was. "Sounds very nice," he started to say, before feeling slightly overwhelmed. Maybe dinner was a bad idea. He started to walk even slower, but somehow Oishi managed to continually match his changing pace so that he was never out of the doctor's field of vision. Oishi really didn't trust him. Then again, he really didn't trust himself.  
  
"Please don't feel offended, I just want the chance to talk to you."  
  
"I don't feel offended...."  
  
"We're almost there anyway."  
  
"Does the resturant have--"  
  
"Don't ask about sweets. I'm not going to order any. You have cupboards full of pocky anyway," Oishi scolded gently, before Kikumaru could even ask about dessert.  
  
He had to admit, he was a little surprised Oishi managed to answer his question before he asked it, mostly because it was only supposed to be an attempt to change the subject. He really wasn't interested in dessert... but was Oishi still able to read his actions? Kikumaru looked down at his feet. They were really very different now.  
  
"Oh, here it is." Oishi stopped infront of a rather small resturant in a contemporary, european design. Kikumaru whistled. It definately looked expensive. There was always an issue about money. He never felt like he had enough, and in a case like this, he didn't want Oishi to pay. He pat his pockets hesitantly, hoping that Oishi didn't notice.  
  
He did. "I don't think it's that expensive."  
  
Kikumaru blushed. "I don't usually carry around much money."  
  
"You've also been spending it on toothpaste." Oishi cast him a sidelong glance.  
  
"Uh...eh... heh..."  
  
Just like the exterior, the interior of the resturant was of contemporary european design, and just as Oishi had said, the place was definately intimate. He felt slightly uncomfortable in this atmosphere with couples, and candles, and shiny metals. It was also too dark. He scowled a bit and watched Oishi make brief conversation with the maitre'd at the door. They were led to a table no different from the others, quiet, dark, candlelit and intimate. There was a silence that hung between them after the waiter did his rounds and got their orders. Kikumaru felt that much more awkward. He swallowed. "Uhm..." he started to say, "Th--thanks for... that nice... breakfast... lunch... type... thing."  
  
"Lunch?" Oishi raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I kinda... woke up late." Kikumaru blushed in embarassment and forced a smile on his face.  
  
Oishi was shaking his head in the dark, as if to scold him for being irresponsible, but he didn't say anything.  
  
There was more silence. Kikumaru felt pressured to talk about something, but he was failing miserably. In the darkness he squinted to see Oishi, hoping the expressions on his face would give him some sort of idea about what to talk about. "Ah!" he exclaimed suddenly, "Oishi! Don't make me talk, you're the one that kept trying to invite me to dinner."  
  
"I wasn't making you talk, you just feel uncomfortable in the silence."  
  
"Of course I do! I have a hard enough time being with you as it is!" Kikumaru hit the table with an open palm.  
  
"I noticed." Oishi raised his wine glass to the candlelight and carefuly observed the swirling golden liquid.  
  
"So then... why are you..."  
  
"Seems I've had the luck and fortune of bumping into a lot of people from Seishun Gakuen recently..."  
  
"Eh....?"  
  
"Taka, Inui, Momoshiro, Horio, Sakuno and Ryoma... and then, of course, you."  
  
"Uh...."  
  
"Only, you've been the most difficult one."  
  
"Eh!?"  
  
"You're the only one I haven't had a nice, calm conversation over dinner with."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
For the first time, Kikumaru noticed in Oishi a similar perpetual kindness and smile that only the Fuji from their youth seemed to have had. There was something about it, though. Was he like that for a reason? He looked down. "Oishi... I... I..." He felt sniffled and felt a tear roll down his cheek. It was something he couldn't quite control. "Ah!" he gasped and quickly wiped at his face, trying to keep a smile on his lips.  
  
Oishi leaned over the table slightly, until their faces were that much closer. Kikumaru recoiled slightly. "Do you hate me?" he asked. His words were simple. They weren't demanding, or rude, or even desperate, they were... simple. As if he were asking for a pencil, or how the weather was that day.  
  
"Wha... what?"  
  
Oishi repeated the question. He said the words with the same simplicity. It was almost as if he had rehersed it. There was no hesitation, no emotion... not really. Kikumaru didn't quite know how to respond. Instead, he stared at Oishi for a long while, the expression on his face one of a merger of confusion and fear. Finally, after a great silence (some of which was filled by a waiter delivering their orders), he managed to squeeze from his tight throat, "N-n-no! Of course not! Never!"  
  
"Really? I didn't expect that..."  
  
Kikumaru frowned. "You... didn't?"  
  
"Well, from the way you've been acting, and then of course, the fact that you never replied to any of my letters... that was a bit of a disappoint--" Oishi looked at Kikumaru's face, staring hard at the food on his plate. "I sent you all sorts of letters and you never replied! But... you did get them... didn't you?"  
  
"...." Kikumaru stared even harder at the plate.  
  
"Don't tell me you didn't get them..."  
  
"...." He swallowed.  
  
"That can't be! I double checked the address and everything! It had to have got--"  
  
"I didn't read them."  
  
"What?"  
  
Kikumaru clentched his fists and shook his head. "I didn't read them! I couldn't read them! Oishi, don't you see? I hated the fact that you left! I hated you for it! It was so mean of you! You're such a mean person! What was I supposed to do!? I didn't want to remember you at all! And then you started to write to me, just like you promised... you always keep your promises. But... but... it wasn't worth it! It wasn't the same! And even when you tried calling me... You're such a jerk! But you had to be the one to go away! No more Golden Pair! No more tennis! Nya..."  
  
Oishi was quiet. He certinaly didn't expect this kind of outburst. Things weren't quite going the way he had planned. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "You stopped playing tennis on account of me?"  
  
"I stopped playing tennis because it remined me of you. You! You, who I hated! You, who's such a jerk!" Kikumaru stuck out his tounge in a childish way.  
  
Now Oishi was confused. "But you said you didn't hate me..."  
  
Kikumaru looked back at his plate and made a few sniffling noises. "That's because... that's because... I don't hate you... I... Oishi, when you left... I was THIS close," he held up his hand and made an indication of closeness with his thumb and pointer finger, "to telling you how I really felt."  
  
"How you felt?"  
  
"But then you left. And I forgot all about it... and then you just had to come along and stir up these feelings all over again. You're a jerk." He pounded the table with an open palm for a second time. "But I don't hate you." Kikumaru looked up at Oishi. The expression on his face was one of indistinguishable emotion. He, himself, was surprised at the outpour of emotion. He was the last person to expect himself to say how he felt. These were feelings that he had spent so many years burying... and he buried them without a concious knowledge of it. However, the tightness in his chest was gone. Or, at the very least, it was replaced by something much less painful.  
  
Oishi stared at him for a moment. "How you felt?" he repeated.  
  
Kikumaru sighed and slumped slightly in his chair. "I... I liked you. Well... of course, you knew that, didn't you? But I like-liked you. At least the way highschoolers liked each other. But you always had those really cute girlfriends and fans. Well, I had really cute girlfriends too - but that's besides the point. Even though I wasn't really gay, I liked you. You were special." He said all that in one breath, and from the way he was disappearing under the table, it looked as though he didn't really want to say it at all. He kept his gaze away from Oishi. The last thing he wanted was to look at him and see a look of total disgust and horror.  
  
Instead, Oishi sighed a sigh that sounded almost disappointed. "You know, if you read my letters..." he stopped himself and shook his head. "Sit up, Eiji. Sit up," he scolded, tapping the table with his spoon.  
  
"No... I'm afraid to see your face..."  
  
"Eiji..."  
  
"Well, what am I supposed to think? Grown men don't go ahead and admit things like that, especially things like that."  
  
Oishi leaned over the table, careful to move their barely eaten plates out of the way. "Isn't the fact that we're grown men make it easier?"  
  
Kikumaru was quiet. Oishi certaintly didn't sound disgusted or horrified, but he still didn't want to look up. Instead he straightened his back and sat at the table without looking like a little child... except for the fact that he was trying his best to not look up at the man across the table. Oishi took his hands, regardless of what everyone around them would have thought, and gave him an encouraging shake. "Do you still have my letters, by any chance?"  
  
"Your... letters?" Kikumaru looked up at him, confusion etched onto his face.  
  
"I'm just curious."  
  
"M...maybe..."  
  
"Maybe?"  
  
Kikumaru sighed and exclaimed, in a rather loud, obnoxious voice, "Okay okay! So I did keep them! I couldn't read them, but I kept them. I kept them in a box thinking that someday I'd work up the courage to read them, but I never did. And now they're sitting in a box, somewhere in my small apartment unopened and unread."  
  
"Really?" Oishi was smiling as he said this.  
  
"Nya..." Kikumaru, in order to avoid any more discussions, shoveled some of the food on his plate into his mouth until his cheeks were bulging. He hoped this would be enough to end this uncomfortable conversation. And just as he hoped, Oishi understood.  
  
The next handful of minutes was silence only accompanied by the sounds of their silverware clicking against the china. It was a comfortable silence, one that Kikumaru perferred over talking. It was very similar to their youth. The kind of silence that existed because both bodies could understand each other so perfectly there wasn't any need for words. Except in this case they didn't quite understand each other, yet the comfort was still there. This was something Kikumaru couldn't quite explain. He glanced at the glass of wine that sat next to his plate. It was still full. Oishi's also remained undrunk, but judging from the signs of spills, he had been playing with the glass all through the dinner.  
  
"Oishi..." Kikumaru finally broke the silence. His voice was a little bit more chipper, now that he had time to break away from the previous conversations. "I really did keep all your letters!"  
  
"You really should read them. They're very educational," Oishi suggested casually.  
  
"Educational?" Kikumaru whined.  
  
"I reccomend it."  
  
"Will you read them with me?" Kikumaru knew those words would catch him off gaurd. It would have caught anyone off gaurd, but the reaction he got was absolutely beyond what he imagined. Oishi, who had been holding his glass of wine to the light, fumbled. The next few moments were filled with the sounds of shattering glass, Oishi getting covered in wine, Kikumaru standing up quickly, plates flipping and waiters running to their table. Of course this was followed by both young men leaving the resturant in an embarassed fit, and both of them attempting to pay for the damages.  
  
This left Kikumaru with an empty wallet. Who knew his own comment was going to backfire like that?  
  
Oishi was left with a wet suit, which he spent a great deal of time staring at as they walked away from the resturant. Kikumaru glanced at him, feeling guilty for what happened. "Uh... my apartment really isn't that far from here, if you want to change before going home. If we both grew relative to each other, you should still be able to fit in some of my clothes."  
  
"That'd be great. I smell like an alcoholic." He stretched the fabric of his wet shirt up to his nose and frowned.  
  
"You can take a shower too... even though it's not much of a bathroom."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
They walked together silently, side by side down the illuminated streets. They were crowded with people that lived for the night, but somehow they managed to maintain the close distance between them, never losing each other among young ravers, bar hoppers, buisness men and ladies of the night. Kikumaru almost felt as if they were attached to each other by some unknown force. Like - what was it called - the red thread of fate.  
  
"I kind of feel like it's my fault," he said, as he closed the door behind them, "suggesting something like that. It was just a joke. You know me."  
  
Oishi was still picking at his shirt, trying to keep it from sticking against his skin. "I'll read them with you, if you want." He said that casually, like an after thought. It seemed his priority was getting out of those clothes.  
  
Kikumaru blinked. "But..."  
  
"I'm being serious." Oishi looked up at him. The look in his eyes was serious.   
  
Kikumaru rubbed at his cheeks, trying to fight the heat he felt rush to his face. "The bathroom's down there, and I think there's a clean set of clothes hanging on the door." He pointed to a room at the end of the apartment, and stared at the floor. He heard Oishi thank him and move from the entrance hall to the bath. He went back to rub his cheeks. Within a span of a few hours, he had gone from a normal salaryman to a high school teenager. The very idea was embarassing - that was the kind of effect Oishi seemed to have on him.  
  
This Oishi at least.  
  
A chirpy bell-like tune cut through the air. He fumbled in his pockets and, after nearly dropping it four times, finally answered his cellphone.  
  
"H-h-h-hai!?"  
  
"KIKUMARU-KUN!!"  
  
"Ah...eh!?"  
  
"Where are you!?"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"You said you'd keep my brother company! I get to the hospital and Ichiro was the only one there! Where do you think you are!? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?"  
  
"Chiyose-chan...!?"  
  
"I can't believe you! And after I had gotten you out of trouble at work!?"  
  
"But--"  
  
"Ah! I hate you! How could you!? Leaving him alone like that!?"  
  
"But... Chiyo--chiyose-chan..." Kikumaru was a wreck. He never imagined she would get so mad. He didn't mean to make her upset. Sank to the floor, trying to explain the situation, but she kept rambling on, angerily yelling into the phone. Everyword he tried to get out failed miserably and he was stuck stuttering the same things over and over again.  
  
"Leaving my little brother all alone like that!? I trusted you! I can't just--"  
  
Oishi, with a towel draped over his head loomed over Kikumaru's body. Casually, he reached down and plucked the phone from his hand. Kikumaru barely had time to react, he hadn't noticed Oishi approach, in fact he didn't even hear the water stop running.   
  
"Yaegaki-san?"  
  
There was silence for a moment. "...Eh? Who's this?"  
  
"This is Oishi Syuichirou, Rei's doctor."  
  
More silence. Chiyose's voice was getting quieter and calmer. "What are you... doing with Kikumaru's phone?" she asked, her voice hesistant.  
  
"I actually asked Kikumaru-san to leave Rei alone with Ichiro. It's better for a patient to be with someone he's more comfortable with. From personal experience, I think there's no one better to be comfortable with than your own doubles partner."  
  
Kikumaru looked up at him.  
  
"And Rei and Ichiro are a perfect example of this. And what's more, it's better for them if they're alone."  
  
"But... I..."  
  
"It's okay Yaegaki-san. I understand your concerns. But your brother is strong. He barely acts as though he were injured at all. In fact, once he heals up, he'll be able to start rehabilitation almost immediately. He's a strong willed kid."  
  
Kikumaru stood up and finally worked up the courage to grab back his phone from Oishi. "Chiyose-chan?"  
  
"... Kikumaru-kun?"  
  
"I'm sorry... but I'll do all the work tomorrow! Just to make up for it!"  
  
"... why are you with Oishi-sensei?"  
  
Kikumaru blushed, unable to respond. Oishi fought a laugh.  
  
"... is that the 'HE' you were talking about earlier!? Oh my god!"  
  
"Chiyose-chan!"  
  
"Wow... well have fun."  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Oh, and I forgive you! Bye bye!"  
  
"Wait, wait, Chiyose-chan! It's not what you think! Chiyose-chan! Chiyose-chaaaan!!" She had already hung up. Kikumaru stared at the phone in desperation. "Nya..." He sighed and sank back down to the floor. Oishi knelt down next to him, the towel still on his head.  
  
"That was really embarassing," he groaned, covering his head with his hands. "Getting the wrong idea and everything. I won't be able to face her at work tomorrow."  
  
Oishi cocked his head to the side. "Do you like her?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"She's cute."  
  
Kikumaru stared at him in disbelief. Oishi was saying this after what happened in the resturant? He looked away. "Looks like my clothes still fit," he commented after an uncomfortable moment of silence, and suddenly to his hands and knees, looking under a bookshelf.  
  
"The pants are just a little bit short, but other than that, they fit okay.... and..." Oishi followed the young man with his eyes, "what are you doing?"  
  
Kikumaru flattened himself against the floor and reached under the bookshelf, before pulling out a shoebox covered with dust. "Hey, you're the one who reminded me about these things," he said, blowing off the dust and moving to sit next to Oishi on the floor.  
  
The doctor stared at the box in disbelief as Kikumaru removed the cover and revealed a set of very tightly packed letters - all turning yellow with age. "Are those... my letters?" he asked, reaching out and fingering the paper.  
  
"Yep. You know, I had forgotten all about them." The smaller of the two began to reach in and pull them out. He turned the first letter over and examined the sealed envelope.  
  
"You really didn't read them!" Oishi exclaimed, snatching the letter from his hands.  
  
Kikumaru shook his head and leaned back against the sofa. "What's the first letter say?" he asked, watching Oishi look over the old letter and carefully unseal the envelope. They both leaned back against the sofa, and he began to read.  
  
"Dear Eiji,  
  
I hope this letter gets to you alright. This place really looks like you'd like it. It's very handsome - and everyone's very friendly. Like you. Of course, I'm going to fit right in. I never had a problem with that... but I will miss having you by my side. Remember what I told you. Don't stop playing tennis on my part. Just because I'm not there anymore doesn't mean your acrobatic plays have to go to waste..."  
  
And Oishi continued to read the letters, some sent in the same week, others in the same month. They were very similar, all long, friendly and describing his new high school. A few of them talked about the cute girls in his classroom, others talked about the decent tennis club. In each letter, there was always a paragraph or more dedicated to how much he missed Eiji and everyone else he left behind. After the first handful, Oishi began to skip over a few letters and find the start of the next month. Kikumaru began to notice the letters grow shorter with time, less friendly, and there was always a note about how he never replied, wrote back or at least gave some sort of indication of life. He pulled his knees up against his chest, feeling guilty. He had never felt bad about ignoring the letters, or the phone calls until now.  
  
Neither was sure how many letters later it was, but Oishi had removed the very last envelope from the shoebox. He had gone through the task of loosening the seal and unfolding the note, just as he had done with ever other letter before that. He paused and stared at the single page for a long time. "Oh... it's this one," he stated.  
  
Kikumaru looked up. "What one?"  
  
Oishi sighed and folded the letter back up. "This is probably the only letter I actually remember writing." He laughed, one of those forced, sad sounding laughs.  
  
"Well, read it."  
  
"No, it's not important."  
  
"No, no, read it."  
  
"No."  
  
Kikumaru grunted in irritation before reaching over and snatching the letter from Oishi's hands, just as Oishi had done with the cell phone how many hours ago. "H-hey! No! Don't read it!" the other protested, but it was too late.  
  
"Dear Eiji," Kikumaru read. The letter started exactly the same as all the others. But the next few words were very different. His voice grew quieter and sader with each passing phrase. "You... you never reply to me. All those letters! And phone calls! What's wrong? I thought we promised never to forget each other. That's what friends do, right? They stay together even though there's so much distance. But... I feel like you've already forgotten about me. Why? Eiji.. don't you know how important to me you are? I don't want to lose touch with you like this! What's the point. I'm talking to a wall here, aren't I? Writing a letter to no one.  
  
"I guess this is goodbye then... but, did you know? I really liked you. I hated having to leave you. I hated never getting the chance to tell you. But I always had girlfriends and fans. Well, you had girlfriends too - but that's besides the point. Even though I'm not really gay, I liked you. You were special."  
  
Kikumaru looked up in time to see Oishi finish mouthing the exact same words in the letter. The same words that were echoed earlier that day in the resturant. Did they really think that much alike? He bottom lip trembled and he carefully folded the letter in his hands. "Oishi..."  
  
"Heh... youth. We've certainly grown up, haven't we? Changed alot. There's so much about each other that we don't know." Oishi pushed himself up off the floor and gave his hair another towel through, before carefully folding it and setting it down on the sofa. "Thanks for finally having dinner with me. I'll be going now though. I have work tomorrow morning... uhm... goodnight."  
  
Kikumaru jumped to his feet, trying to beat him to the door, but it was too late. He pressed his palms against the cold surface. Instinct would have told him to open the door, chase after him, but the logical part of his brain told him not to. That it would be better to let things be. If they were friends, then he should respect their distance. He glanced back at the letters sitting in a pile on the floor - some opened, some read, some not. Carefully, he folded them, stuffed them into their envelopes, stuffed them into the shoebox and nudged it back under the bookshelf - never to be seen again.  
  
Somehow, the next few days returned to normal, to the days before Kikumaru encountered Oishi. He would work in his office, duck out early, get caught by Chiyose. They would talk, have lunch together. She didn't tease him about Oishi, in fact she never brought it up. They were good friends like that. Maybe she could tell from the slight slump in his shoulders, or the distant look he'd have while he sat at his computer. And even though things looked normal, he couldn't help but think about that last letter Oishi had written. They had shared the same thoughts and feelings at that age. How funny.  
  
But now, they knew nothing about each other.  
  
"Kikumaru-kun! Dinner! Kaito-kun brought ramen. You like naruto, right?" Chiyose hovered near him. "Kikumaru-kun...? Kiku--"  
  
"Eh...?" He looked up from on the computer and blinked a few times. There was nothing on the screen, just the plain blue Windows desktop.  
  
Chiyose sat down on the edge of his desk and leaned in close, until their foreheads nearly touched. "You alright?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.  
  
"Uh... of course!" He exclaimed, moving backwards slightly and offering her an encouraging smile.  
  
She stared at him for a moment before slipping off his desk and dusting off the edge of her skirt. "Oh, well, we're done for the day. If you don't want to eat dinner with us, you can leave now."  
  
"What?" Kikumaru blinked again. "I can--"  
  
"Go home. Sleep. I think you really are sick," Chiyose scolded, wagging her finger.  
  
"But-" he tried to protest, raising his hand. She batted away his hand and his protests, in a very motherly way. She had obviously learned this from taking care of her brother for so many years. "And! Don't you dare go back to your apartment and eat Pocky. I know what you do when you're alone! You don't take care of yourself!" She sighed and gave him a gentle slap to the head.  
  
Kikumaru pouted and rubbed the spot where she had hit him. "Hey... what was that for?" he asked, frowning.  
  
Chiyose replied, "It's to make up for all the teasing I had to give up on, what with Rei being in the hospital and all." She laughed and shook her head. Even in these kinds of situations, she was still so put together and sweet. Kikumaru liked that about her.  
  
"Okay okay," he said, reaching for his suit jacket, "I'm going."  
  
"Kaito-kun's going to eat your bowl of ramen."  
  
"Oh no..." Kikumaru feigned sadness. He pretended to rub the tears from his eye as he made sounds similar to sobs and moans. Chiyose hit him again, as if to scold him for acting so foolish. The two shared a laugh, before finally making their formal goodbyes. (This included a few hugs and a kiss on the cheek.)  
  
Kikumaru pulled on his suit jacket as he headed back to his apartment. He was surprised that weather that had been so warm before had suddenly become so cold just a short while later. He wished he had a sweater. He hugged himself a bit, trying to warm up his body. He froze. Something stiff was tucked into his jacket pocket. Standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk, he pulled out something he hadn't looked at since that evening so many days ago. Under the light of the streetlamps, he was able to read every word on the card. What caught his eye, however, was the address. "He lives with all those big apartments," he noted, turning the card over, wondering if there was something mysterious or magical on the back.  
  
"... and he still has my clothes," he added, suddenly remembering that his favorite sweater was the one Oishi had walked away with. He sighed, right there in the middle of the street, and slumped his shoulders forward.  
  
A young women with her son, grabbed the boy by the eyes and pulled him away whispering things like, "Don't look at the strange man. Shh shh. Just keep walking."  
  
Kikumaru looked around and started walking again. "I really should go and see him again," he said to himself, "afterall... he still has my clothes." He stopped and sat down at the fountain. He needed to think, and walking wasn't helping him much. He stared at the card for a moment longer before finally deciding, seeing Oishi wasn't such a bad idea... but he had to pick up something first.  
  
Kikumaru was alot more chipper, heading towards the more elaborate apartment complexes. Perhaps he was driven by whatever he had purchased and was now carrying around in a plastic shopping bag. He stopped at the door and buzzed. There was a moment of silence. The door opened. There was Oishi looking as though he had just gotten off work - still dressed like a professional.  
  
"...Eiji...?"  
  
"Yahhoi! I brought a present!" Kikumaru raised the bag up for Oishi to see. The desperate grasps for energy was proof he wanted very much for them to be friends - just like old times. Oishi leaned against the door frame and sighed, a tired, rather overworked sigh. "Eiji..." He paused and moved back from the door. "Come in," he said, giving into the responsible, kind part of him.  
  
Kikumaru, somehow maintaining this childlike energy stepped inside. The moment he got the chance to look around at the setting, he grew very still, and very quiet. Oishi was rich, and his apartment showed all signs of this. Compared to this, the tiny, quaint apartment of his looked like a hole in the ground. He nearly dropped the bag he was holding.  
  
"Do you want some tea, coffee, beer, sake?" Oishi offered as he removed the doctor's coat and hung it up to wait for the next day of work.  
  
Kikumaru took a moment before saying, "Beer. Uh.. no, tea, no coffee. No.. b-- no... wait..." He paused and then quickly added, "Surprise me."  
  
Oishi smiled and disappeared into the kitchen. "Oh, sit down. Make yourself at home." His voice floated out into the living area where Kikumaru was standing and feeling very awkward. He hesitated for a moment before settling on the leather couch.  
  
"Leather... wow. Doctors must make alot of money," he commented, running his hands over the material.  
  
"I don't make that much. The couch was a gift."  
  
Kikumaru jerked his hand away and looked up at Oishi with a guily expression on his face. "I didn't mean--"  
  
A glass of iced green tea was set on the coffee table infront of him. "Not a big deal. I get that alot," he said casually. "So what are you doing here?" he asked, eyeing Kikumaru with a bit of suspicion.  
  
He raised the plastic bag. "Taadaa!" he sang, "I brought Pocky!"  
  
"... Pocky?"  
  
"Think of it as personal retribution for filling my refrigerator with healthy food."  
  
"Really?" Oishi raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well that and I figured you needed a little sugar in your life. Chocolate AND Strawberry!" Kikumaru reached into the plastic bag and pulled out a package of each - just to show off.  
  
Oishi laughed quietly and reached for the bag, thanking him with a gentle touch on the shoulder. The atmosphere grew quiet. "I still have your clothes," he said suddenly, breaking the silence.  
  
"Yeah, I came for those too..."  
  
"I'll go get them, then."  
  
"No. There's no rush. I wanted to see where you lived." Kikumaru looked around, while he raised his legs and casually flexed his feet - stretching out the calf muscles. "It's nice..." he finally said after a long silence. He relaxed his legs.  
  
Another silence hung in the air. This time it was one of those awkward, uncomfortable silences. Oishi was still standing, looking around and trying to avoid eye contact. Kikumaru was staring hard at his hands. "You know," he said quietly, breaking the silence, "when I was younger, someone really important said to me, 'There's no fun in knowning everything about somebody. That makes a relationship boring.'"  
  
Oishi stared him.  
  
"Now, we don't know anything about each other. What happens then?"  
  
"That's not true." Oishi sat down on the couch next to him. "We know plenty about each other."  
  
Kikumaru looked up at him. "We do?"  
  
"Well, I know you used to play tennis with that great acrobatic style. And I know that you have a prodigal eyesight, and were best friends with the tennis genius. And most of all, I know you used to play doubles the team vice captain. And together the two of you were known as the golden pair."  
  
Kikumaru leaned his head against Oishi's shoulder. "No no," he corrected, "the two of us were known as the golden pair."  
  
"That's right. The two of US."  
  
"... so... we know about each other's childhood."  
  
"And that's alot, people as old as us don't really know about another person's childhood."  
  
"We're not that old!"  
  
"We're old."  
  
"Not THAT old!"  
  
"We're old!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Old!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Old!" Kikumaru paused, scowled and reached with his hand and tweaked Oishi's nose in revenge.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"You gave me no choice!"  
  
Oishi ruffled Kikumaru's hair jokingly, in revenge for tweaking his nose. The two shared a laugh. It was one of those familiar, childhood laughs, the kind that makes people feel warm and comfortable. Kikumaru leaned his head back on Oishi's shoulder and looked up at him. "Oishi, do you think if we told each other that we liked each other back then, would we have become a couple?" he asked, somehow conquering all his fears in that one instant.  
  
"Why not? The feeling was mutual."  
  
"Do you think we would have been together for a long time?"  
  
"Who knows. It wouldn't have kept me from moving away..."  
  
"Well... do you think we would have still been together up until now?"  
  
"Hard to say. We both changed."  
  
Kikumaru took a moment in hesitation before saying, in a quiet voice, "Do you still like me now?"  
  
"No. Not really."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"I mean, we're both completely different people now. I liked the you of our youth. This is a different you. I can't just like this you, do you understand?" Oishi glanced down at him.  
  
"Yeah... I think I understand."  
  
"Besides," he added, "You probably don't like me the way you liked me then, do you?"  
  
Kikumaru thought about this statement. Oishi was right. He really didn't like him the same way, and they really had changed alot. "I guess you right," he finally replied, "I don't really like you like that... and even--"  
  
"Even our friendship's changed. I know," Oishi finished.  
  
"Oishi?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You know what? I'd like to get the chance to know you again."  
  
"Like old time's sake?"  
  
"Like old time's sake. Heck, I'll even start playing tennis again."  
  
Oishi laughed. "No thanks. I haven't touched a raquet in years."  
  
"Oh good! Me neither!"  
  
The pair shared another one of those familiar childhood laughs. Kikumaru sighed and quietly, just as he would have done when they were younger, nestled their bodies side by side as they sat together, alone on the leather couch. They stayed quiet after that laugh, both deciding that this comfortable silence was something that neither of them wanted to come to an end.  
  
"Hey, Ichiro?  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You know... I really like you."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"No, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to say that."  
  
"... Rei?"  
  
"...uh... yeah?"  
  
"I really like you too."  
  
"Really!?"  
  
"Really..."  
  
author's notes: Rei, Chiyose and Ichiro(all being of my own creation) were fully developed characters prior to the writing of this story. Rei and Ichiro, if it's not obvious from the story, were originally intended to be a complete mirrored reflection of Kikumaru and Oishi, respectively. The only difference was that they, unlike their older counterparts, were actually going to admit their feelings to each other. In a way, they were-- Kikumaru and Oishi's "alternate selves".  
  
Had the story been longer, like I had originally thought it was going to be, Kikumaru was going to think alot about his past whenever he saw them together. Another intention was that Chiyose was supposed to be his original love interest. She was supposed to have fallen in love with someone in her past, who she was still holding onto, but in Kikumaru she found someone very similar. This person was intended to return and they were supposed to fall in love all over again. This was supposed to make Kikumaru think even harder. (All before actually confronting Oishi) Unfortunately, that would have made the story much longer. The Yaegaki family WAS surprisingly important in the original draft of this fic.  
  
As for the origin of this story... Kikumaru is either depicted as someone bubbling with excitment, and childishly spoiled. When I started writing this, he was supposed to be this bubbly, excited character - until I actually started scripting the peice. In turn, the attitude from his younger career still existed, but in a more serious form. I decided to capture him as someone who, in order to not feel depressed about losing a part of his past, would do anything to make it seem a though it never existed(subconciously). I tried to make this point across during the confrontation scene. However, another key point about his personality, was that he was more than willing to accept Oishi into his life again. Hence, a conflict of interest, and a rather confused Kikumaru. Of course, this too didn't come across with the same amount of power I had originally intended. This is where my writing actually falls short. I'm working on it. (To be honest, this is possibly one of the first serious fanfictions I've written in a long time...)  
  
The ending, if you were curious, was supposed to reflect the ending in the prolouge, "Knowing Too Much" only in this case, Rei and Ichiro managed to admit their feelings to one another. (If you read that little oneshot, which wasn't necessary for this fic, you would have noticed the very VERY subtle hints towards Kikumaru and Oishi getting THAT close to telling each other how they felt. But it didn't happen). Of course, it's also obvious from this fic that Kikumaru and Oishi didn't get together. tear But it would have been really out of the character of the story. Two people(in my opinion) need time to relearn things about each other before they can rekindle old feelings. I mean, from personal experience, it's awkward trying to be friends with someone who had changed SO much... especially to the extent where they've become the kind of person you HATE.  
  
SO. What kind of buisness is Kikumaru in anyway? He's supposed to work for a commercial company and handle presentataion and publicty of the company. Him and his team handle all the selling. (There are several members of this team including Chiyose, Kaito, Kikumaru and Shimizu... most of which didn't even show up in the story.)  
  
And who was Haruo and Teru? Hmmm... well. Figure it out. :) really really easy  
  
Right. And what's with the Pocky obsession? I figured, with Kikumaru's budget, the only thing he'd actually be eating would be instant ramen and pocky. It just so happens that at the time of Oishi's stay at his apartment he had eaten all of the instant ramen.  
  
This story feels incomplete. Where's everyone else!? UHm.. I'm actually working on a parody/sequel to this story. Don't worry... MOST of the Seigaku Nine will appear. Yes. Only MOST. Not ALL.  
  
You Suck. Why did you bother writing? Uhm... mostly out of boredom.   
  
Oh. I see. Thanks for answering my questions. No problem!  
  
[0] -kun: a form of address in Japanese. It's often used to denote familarity towards males, or to show respect towards lowerclassmen(including women).  
  
[1] -chan: another form of address in Japanese. It is often used to denote familiarity towards females and occasionally in a nickname for males.  
  
[2] Nya: One of Kikumaru's many noises. Similar to the sound of a cat, he tends to make this sound either to punctuate his sentences or to express a sort of confusion and innocence.  
  
[3] Kachou: Boss, chief, manager-type person.  
  
[4] Seiza: The formal way of sitting for both genders. The seiza style is required on very formal occasions and traditional events like the tea ceremony. People who are not used to sit in seiza style, may feel uncomfortable after a few minutes, and their legs may get numb. An increasing number of Japanese people aren't able to sit in seiza style too long anymore, due to a westernized lifestyle. In casual situations, men usually sit cross-legged while women sit on their knees laying both legs to one side.  
  
[5] Korokke: Japanese style croquets, usually breaded and filled with meat and potatoes.  
  
[6] -sensei: another form of address in Japanese. It's often used to address a person of professional standing, as well as used among co-workers in the same profession. In this case, it's used to denote a doctor.  
  
[7] Hai: literally, "yes"  
  
[8] Yahhoi: another one of the sounds Kikumaru is known for making. This one has no meaning, but it's often used as a form of greeting.  
  
[9] Ano: the japanese equivalent to "uhm" or "er".  
  
[10] Ne: similar in english speech to "right?" to punctuate a sentence.  
  
[11] -san: yet another form of address in japanese. This can be mirrored to the english, "Mr." ; "Mrs" ; "Miss" or "Ms."  
  
[12] Desu: technically a form of the verb, "To be". Here, Chiyose is technically saying, "Yes, I am Chiyose."  
  
[13] -sempai: upperclassman. 


End file.
